An internet user often has multiple usernames and passwords that may be used for user authentication in order to access a plurality of websites. For example, the internet user may have one username/password combination that is used to access a social networking site, such as Facebook, and another username/password combination that is used to access an email site, such as Gmail. While having multiple username/password combinations may be necessary for user authentication, the internet user may find it cumbersome to remember each username/password combination. For example, the internet user may forget their username/password combination for a website and will not be able to access that website.
To make user authentication less cumbersome for the internet user, single sign-on (SSO) solutions, such as OpenID, have been proposed. However, when SSO is implemented as a web service there are some drawbacks. For example, the user may not have a secure channel to the web based SSO provider. Additionally, the user may have limited control over the SSO provider.
Moreover, authentication in SSO may produce over the air interface communications, which may produce load on both the network entity (i.e. the OpenID provider (OP or NAF) and the network itself by increased traffic. Additionally, the mobile network operator (MNO) may have to bear the cost of this additional traffic and processing.